#wip: iecunem

[void-botanist]

I had inspiration for an AITA post written by local cringefail ferasca Pirianus, so here you go.

AITA for going on vacation?

I (62M) am married to 6 other people (62F, 61M, 59F, 59F, 57M, 65M). Recently my primary partner (62F) - let’s call her Carmen - retired from her very demanding job and has had more time to spend with her spouses. This has not translated to her spending more time with me, only with her primary partner (59F) - let’s call him James. Things got heated between James and I because of this, and I realized that we both needed time to cool off, so I decided to go on vacation for a few weeks. This gave me a lot of time to think and realize that none of my spouses particularly want me around, so I decided to continue vacationing along the coast indefinitely (money is not an issue).

Fast forward a couple of months and another of my spouses (57M) - let’s call him Thaddeus - shows up and is upset with me for “leaving” because I didn’t mention I extended my vacation. He puts Carmen on the phone, and she chews me out for the same. Thaddeus and I got into a massive argument after that and I shudder to think what awaits me when I arrive home. It’s obvious they don’t like me anymore, yet they’re livid that I tried to solve that problem by getting out of their way. AITA?

Edit: I am not misgendering James. Have none of you ever met a butch lesbian?

Edit 2: “you have to both be each other’s primary partner” according to whom??

Iecunem taglist: @vacantgodling @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

hello everyone I have made a gif

the original meme is already known to me as the Thade and Piri meme because they're just like that

(and yes, you can commission me to make goofy short meme gifs like this)

Iecunem taglist: @vacantgodling @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

Last Line Tag

@vacantgodling tagged me for this and I have a good one from the polycule shenanigans I've been working on:

“Where the everloving fuck have you been, Pirianus?”

I'll tag @kahvilahuhut, @sarahlizziewrites, and anyone else who wants to join in!

[void-botanist]

17 & 18 of the group situations for any of the polycules <3

Finally getting to this one with Marcus and Kiatcarmen's polycules :3

17 - One of the characters in the group has been replaced by an evil doppelganger. How does the group figure out who it is?

Marcus: gonna be honest, if he seems too relaxed there's gonna be suspicion. Yera would be the hardest to fool because she is both discerning and has known him the longest. So she has a pretty solid sense of how much emotional constipation and anxiety and depression he has.

Yera: this one might be a challenge because while everyone knows Yera pretty well, her MO is to have fun. So as long as the doppelganger doesn't do anything that is obviously at someone else's expense/actually mean, they could probably explain away just about anything. But they would also have to remember the ten million little moments she has shared with people and if they forgot, Gren and Hossan would figure it out.

Umedes: the biggest mistake a doppelganger could make is treating Umedes' alienness and relative distance from everyone else as an excuse to stay aloof and do whatever. Pali and Gren would figure that out easily (Marcus would kinda figure they were just trying something new and of course they're tired of him. he's such a sad boy).

Hossan: he defines himself in very specific ways. Yera and Gren would know something is off the second he starts using words like "kinky" and "polyamorous" about his triad.

Pali: it's way too easy to try and play Pali as conniving and scheming but she really is not an evil mastermind type. Her goals and her door have to be just open enough to keep Umedes or Marcus or Gren from figuring it out.

Gren: he's the slut spouse, not the seductive spouse. He's not much for innuendoes or specifically flirting, versus just being really nice. So really any serious seductiveness will have everyone wondering if he's okay.

Heith: the doppelganger would have to walk a fine line between being very cynical and also not being depressed, which would be hard with Marcus tipping everything depressionward. Unfortunately Marcus is also the one Heith spends the most time with and is most likely to notice something is wrong.

Kiatcarmen: it would be hard, ngl. But she's not equally mean to everyone or mean to them in the same way. Still, as long as they don't do something as obvious as badmouthing Jimmy, they might go undetected if there aren't any nuances that Jimmy or Pirianus pick up on.

Ashmalo: the giveaway would probably be him being vitriolic about Kiatcarmen, or him being overconfident as a dad. It's kind of a toss up who would notice first but my bet's on Orvi, since he's both very observant and friends with Ashmalo.

Jimmy: probably getting involved with Marcus and Minaya too much. He's always been distant from them, and any deviation from that would be odd to everyone else.

Pirianus: his whole MO is opaque to everyone else, yet it does follow a pretty predictable logic of being extremely emotionally repressed. If he got more transparent or just less judgmental it would be a tip-off. Thade would probably figure it out first.

Caladea: the biggest possible mistake is to assume that she is both soft and kind of weak-willed in all areas of her life. The only people who believe that are the ones who have never seen her strategize with Ashmalo or met her in the bedroom. The opposite is true too: what Caladea would talk back to Kiatcarmen, or talk to her at all if it wasn't necessary?

Thade: he can be annoying, but he chooses his moments because he wants attention more than anything. Someone constantly being annoying just for the sake of being annoying would raise some flags.

Orvi: it might be possible to skate past Thade and Caladea if they got some small details right. But either the complex web of politics in the court or an overdeveloped sense of power from Orvi's personal surveillance network would trip them up.

18 - One of your characters is sick in bed. What do the rest of the characters do to help them feel better?

Marcus: the most often repeated phrase with him is "take the pills". He's so ready to just suffer through it but nobody will let him. And pretty much everyone will come to say hi to him at one time or another but Umedes will be there the most.

Yera: she has the window cracked open so that someone can hang out on the other side of it and be somewhat protected from whatever has her sick. But she's suffering not being able to be around anyone and they try to be extra social with her in other ways to make up for it.

Umedes: half the time they won't even tell anyone they're sick—they'll just recede into their chambers. They don't want to make people take care of them, but they almost inevitably get found out and taken care of anyway. I think there's some kind of Vick's equivalent for scales and that's what they use, and it's hard to feel too much like a burden when hot guys are insisting on giving you a scale rub.

Hossan: he hates being sick so much. He will take the pills without being told though he doesn't always believe they do anything. But Gren and Yera have discovered the best way to make him less miserable is just to give him a space Switch and not bother him too much while he plays games in bed.

Pali: Umedes and Gren especially are checking in frequently to make sure she hasn't decided to return to work while they weren't looking and make sure she has enough water and snacks and such. Luckily she doesn't like working in bed, so it's hard for her to pretend she wasn't working.

Gren: for the most part they all just staying out of his bedroom, because he's determined to sleep it off. But it's also answering his messages as quickly as possible so he can get his meals in before going back to sleep.

Heith: she will let Marcus in to hang out with her periodically and also Gren so he won't worry, but mostly she wants soup and to be left alone with the space netflix password.

Kiatcarmen: she has Jimmy on video call half the day every day, because she doesn't want to get him sick, but she can't be without him. The rest of her time is spent either watching trash TV or sleeping. She used to just rely on the staff to leave what she needed at the door, but she's discovered that Pirianus is only too happy to play her nurse, and sometimes she lets him.

Ashmalo: he doesn't like being sick by any means but he does like that Caladea takes it on herself to take care of him. She doesn't hang around a ton, just because it's boring for her, but she will make sure he has everything he needs and massage his shoulders and tuck him in.

Jimmy: he tends to have a short temper and very little energy for socializing when he's sick, but he also can't stand being left completely alone. So he will have Kiat or Caladea on video chat for a few minutes here and there.

Pirianus: well, in his ideal world, Kiatcarmen would dote on him like he dotes on her, but he has to make do with mostly Thade, who operates on a strict "don't shoot the messenger" policy. Thade is just delivering stuff. Don't blame him for anything that goes wrong, just send him to get something else. But Thade is also decently likely to not be home when Piri is sick, so then it's Orvi, or some representative of Orvi, fetching things, and occasionally Caladea will see him until she gets tired of him, and even more occasionally Kiatcarmen will drop by.

Caladea: she wants everyone to stay away from her. Well, maybe Orvi or Thade or Ashmalo can sit far away from her and talk to her from there. But for the love of god do not let in Pirianus, because he wants to be her Big Brother TM, but he's just overbearing.

Thade: if he's perfectly honest he kinda prefers getting sick in his hotel suite in Landris, because then he doesn't have to think about socializing with the polycule beyond his phone—he can just call his assistant Wyn to get him some stuff and then chill in his space. In the palace Orvi and Caladea and Ashmalo are checking in on him, and that's nice, but why do they all have to do it every day. Can they not just coordinate.

Orvi: he has tried to just be sick in peace but Caladea won't let him. Which is mostly a good thing, honestly, because otherwise he would just vanish for a week, and would barely interact with anyone. Ashmalo and Thade will also visit him, though he's not sure if Ashmalo only comes if Caladea tells him to.

[void-botanist]

Iecunem patch notes no. 1

Global

Bovans have become cyorans (gray fox people).

Magister is now the appropriate form of address for spouses of the royal family.

Kiatcarmen's polycule

Removed "deceased" attribute from Jimmy and Ashmalo. As a result, Kiatcarmen is 120% happier, Pirianus is 50% angrier, and Thade is 20% more helpful.

Jimmy is now a black transmasc butch.

Thade now enters the polycule via ambassadorship somehow, thanks to Kiatcarmen hoping to pick up another Jimmy.

Orvi now enters the polycule via being a courtier's assistant, where Caladea becomes obsessed with him.

A new vector of longing has been unlocked between Ashmalo and Caladea.

Pirianus can now attempt to yeet himself from the polycule to avoid the horror of retirement.

Fixed a bug where Kiatcarmen hated Thade's guts, preventing him from accessing her bedroom.

Fixed a bug where Kiatcarmen just died instead of making the obvious move in the game she thinks she's playing with her son.

Marcus's polycule

Hossan is now human.

Marcus's motivations have been updated to reflect the fact that his dad is alive and well but his mom still sucks.

Iecunem taglist: @vacantgodling @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

let’s start with 1-5 for all the polycules! -@vacantgodling

This is gonna be a long one lol. But first, a little note on these polycules for those who don't know: they're legally mandated for the royal family (Kiatcarmen, Marcus, and Minaya) and have at least one of each sapient species in them. That's why Jimmy was replaced in Kiatcarmen's polycule when he died, whereas in an organic polycule, that likely would not happen.

1 - How many members are in the polycule? How are they related to each other? Feel free to draw a flow chart.

Kiatcarmen: there have only ever been five at one time. But those members have shifted twice, when existing members died. Kiatcarmen and Ashmalo are Marcus and Minaya's parents.

First set of members:

Second set of members:

Third (current) set of members:

Marcus: seven, technically. It remains to be seen whether Heith will stick around. With the exception of Heith, it's safe to assume they're all friends. Gren only knows OF Heith, since Marcus met her on another planet. Yera and Hossan recently had a baby. Also they don't actually have non-cow ears I just couldn't rally myself to make updated picrews for this post.

Minaya: six, all pretty much friends. Dawn is currently pregnant with Arbores's baby. Lanya is permanently annoyed with Arbores because his state of being is sort of to just disappear into the woods and not engage that much with the administrative/royalty things he, Minaya, and Dawn manage.

This isn't all the existent relationships in these polycules but it is all the most notable ones.

2 - Did the relationship start polyamorous, or was it a monogamous relationship that eventually opened?

All three of these started as technically polyamorous relationships, though they grew little by little. But if you look past the legal requirement it's a little more complicated. Kiatcarmen's polycule has always been a mess, and to be honest she would have been just fine having just Jimmy.

Yera and Hossan in Marcus's polycule started out as a functionally closed couple within the whole (they don't actually restrict each other to this but that was how it was anyway) but a couple years in, Marcus married Gren and Gren became besties with Yera. Over time this morphed into Gren being their third partner, but Gren is still very mobile between the different members and divisions of the polycule.

Minaya's polycule, once completed, was functionally three parallel couples (Minaya and Lanya, Dawn and Arbores, and Lucy and Ramona) until Ramona fessed up about her crush on Lanya and those two couples merged into something like a quad.

3 - If it started monogamous, how did the process of opening the relationship go?

Marcus: for a while it wasn't clear whether Yera and Hossan's relationship was going to open - maybe Yera just had a new fuckbuddy. But Gren and Hossan spent a lot of time together incidentally, and Gren also wanted to be friends with him too, and over time Gren just sort of got absorbed into their dynamic. There was a little jealousy they had to work out (Hossan was very used to being Yera's singular obsession), and there was a conversation at some point, though, when Hossan realized that he no longer thought of Gren as a separate external addition. He still doesn't think of himself as polyam but considers Gren in the same breath as Yera.

Minaya: opening her and Lanya's relationship felt easy. For a while, though, it was pretty much just sexual. That was easiest for everybody, especially with Lucy and Ramona being away for training and competition a lot. But over time it's developed into a more romantic dynamic, which has been fairly smooth, despite Lucy's defensiveness and Lanya's counter-defensiveness. There is some uncertainty about how things will change once Minaya ascends the throne, though.

4 - Are there any mono-poly relationships in the polycule?

Kiatcarmen: sort of. Despite having a sexual and quasi-romantic relationship with Pirianus the only person she's ever considered her partner is Jimmy, so in essence she has always been the monogamous person connected to her own polycule through her very popular spouse.

Marcus: no, but only because Heith isn't monogamous.

Minaya: Lucy teeters on the edge here. She's never outright decided she's monogamous, but she also doesn't have a lot of patience for maintaining multiple romantic partnerships.

5 - What “shape” is the polycule? A triad, a “V”, a straight line of metamours, or incomprehensible?

Kiatcarmen: currently, a cul-de-sac. Kiatcarmen only considers Pirianus anything close to a partner, Pirianus has complicated relationships with her and Thade, and Thade, Caladea, and Orvi are all just vibing with each other. In other words: almost entirely metamours and meta-metamours from Kiatcarmen's perspective, and something resembling a cohesive whole from Thade's.

Marcus: in Marcus's absence, it became kind of a bow tie, with Gren in the middle between Yera & Hossan and Umedes & Pali, and Marcus and Heith as a separate island. Upon his return, it expands into more of an anglerfish - Gren is still the point of connection between Yera & Hossan and Umedes & Pali, but Marcus has joined Umedes and Pali, and also has a connection to Heith.

Minaya: it's more or less a quad (Minaya, Lanya, Ramona, Lucy) with an orbiting couple (Dawn and Arbores).

[void-botanist]

🪄 🪄 🪄

Partytown by Glenn Frey

This is not about who you think it's about, I promise (but please tell me who you thought of before you went through the cut).

I got sick of my job, sick of my wife Sick of my future and sick of my life I packed up my car and I got some gas And told everybody they could kiss my ass I'm goin' to Partytown

Yeah so this one is about post-funeral Pirianus. After a few weeks of widowhood he decides to take a trip to the seaside, and then he just sort of vanishes. Thade eventually finds him on a different coast altogether kicking back and pretending that his life at the palace didn't exist. This goes about as well as you would expect, with such exchanges as

Thade: excuse me, what the fuck dude Pirianus: I'm done with you people. I have wasted 40 years of my life in the palace, and I'm not going to waste any more of it. bye [closes door] Thade: again, excuse me, what the fuck, you are still married to us people Pirianus: just tell them I died at sea and go away Thade: [banging on door] YOU TELL THEM

Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something

I see you - the only one who knew me And now your eyes see through me I guess I was wrong So what now? It's plain to see we're over And I hate when things are over When so much is left undone

The way the plot of this song goes, it's unclear what actually happens. But it ends on this note of "well, maybe we can build back from the one thing we have in common" (which could also be "here's the one tiny comfort of breaking up with someone who seems completely different now" and they still break up). And I think that's really the story of Avis and Sorian. As far as Avis is concerned, Sorian is the only person who has ever really known her. But now everything is so different and she can't decide if she hates him or hates losing him more.

Feels Like Rain by Buddy Guy ft. Bonnie Raitt

The flow of this song is incredible. The transition into the chorus? Gets me every time.

Down here the river, meets the sea And in the sticky heat, I feel you open up to me Love comes out of nowhere, baby, just like a hurricane And it feels like rain And it feels like rain

This is an Anni and Zel song, both for all of the comparisons to and mentions of water (when are they not near water, first of all, and second of all, Zel's religion uses a lot of water imagery and her connection with that is important) AND the idea of the relief and refreshingness of finally opening up. Zel is keeping a lot of secrets and a lot of feelings that slowly trickle (pun somewhat intended) into Anni's knowledge over the course of TFA and its sequel.

Send a 🪄 get a song I am unnormal about

Soravis taglist: @vacantgodling @athenswrites @kk7-rbs

Music taglist: @outpost51 @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

Last Line Tag

@sunset-a-story and @jezifster tagged me recently, so have this mysterious line from the Iecunem scene I decided to write:

Please confirm your intentions upon receipt.

I'll tag @kk7-rbs, @writernopal, and @multi-lefaiye plus anyone who wants to jump in!

[void-botanist]

Badly summarized chosen ones

@kahvilahuhut tagged me for badly summarized ocs and I decided to put a twist on it since I've been thinking about how the various royal spouses were chosen as potential options for the royal family to marry.

I'll tag @vacantgodling, @jezifster and @multi-lefaiye plus an open tag!

[void-botanist]

19, 20, 21, 22 for the polycule of your choice? :0

whoops we're doing it for two of them :3 and I'll include Heith too

19 - Summarize your character's goals in one sentence.

Marcus: be okay and go home, but also never have to tell Heith about all of his lies by omission

Heith: figure out if she's actually for real serious about Marcus (she thinks she might be actually for real serious about Marcus) and one way or another move out of her hotel room on Aephar

Yera: be a mom and try to make peace with the fact that Marcus is not here to be a part of the family

Hossan: be a dad and help Umedes figure themself out

Gren: see Marcus again and hopefully find out that there was no need to be jealous about his girlfriend, and make sure everyone's okay, especially the baby

Pali: prevent Kiatcarmen from finding Marcus (though that isn't a very active job), make sure the shifter coalition in the court doesn't budge, and get somewhere with her studies of shifter magic

Umedes: figure out whether they want to have a kid or not help

Kiatcarmen: find Marcus, because Minaya must not ascend, and do whatever else she can to preserve her accomplishments in the kingdom

Pirianus: broaden Kiatcarmen's vision beyond legacy, or, failing that, as he has for some 30+ years, get her to open up to him

Caladea: see Marcus again, and for his polycule's sake believe with all her heart the lies they tell Kiatcarmen

Thade: continue completing the political project du jour and end up in a happily ever after with Pirianus, which might also make him more welcome in the palace

Orvi: complete the one thing he was installed in the palace to accomplish

20 - Who's in the way of those goals?

Marcus: his mother. Always his mother. And honestly a little bit himself

Heith: herself, mostly. This is so not like her - well, specifically the part where she's still here when there have been plenty of times to go home

Yera: realistically, Kiatcarmen. But she still sometimes feels like she's lost some of her verve

Hossan: Umedes is the big challenge here. They're just so indecisive

Gren: Kiatcarmen, but sometimes it's easier to focus on the fact that Marcus has an interstellar girlfriend that none of them have ever met and that's so frustrating

Pali: herself. There aren't enough hours in the day for everything, and she has to sleep ugh

Umedes: themself, because they were the one who said this would be a great idea for when Marcus comes back. Who 100% believed Pali and Minaya and her ferasca spouses that this would go great. And who also took one look at Yera & Hossan's baby and thought that maybe they were signing up for more than they realized

Kiatcarmen: Marcus. Always Marcus. But she also blames Minaya and Yera and Pali for his disappearance, and she needs Pirianus to just shut up. This would have been so much easier with Jimmy

Pirianus: Kiatcarmen because he put his eggs all in one basket. But he mostly blames himself

Caladea: Kiatcarmen, but she tries to focus on what she can do better, and how she's getting in her own way

Thade: he's beginning to suspect he's been in his own way this entire time but it can't be understated how much Pirianus is constantly hot and cold

Orvi: it changes frequently, but always some contingent of the court

21 - What is your character's relationship with their emotions?

Marcus: he can't control his bad emotions, so he suppresses them. This has never caused any problems

Heith: she's just as cynical about her emotions as she is about everything else, but sometimes she just can't not feel something completely unironically

Yera: she's gonna feel them whatever they are so [grits teeth] negative emotions are part of the fullness of experience (she will be screaming into this pillow later)

Hossan: left to his own devices, he would feel his emotions, and then let them cast away upon the wind. Being with Yera and Gren has made him learn how to interrogate them more

Gren: he feels everything. A lot. He also conceptualizes things in terms of feelings a lot

Pali: she would like to believe she doesn't have them, but then she lays awake at night deconstructing them

Umedes: they tend to put intense feelings away for later, but don't ever get to later unless later comes for them first

Kiatcarmen: her emotions are so rich and nuanced and nobody understands that, so all of her emotions collapse into some flavor of annoyance

Pirianus: don't like that feeling? Repress it! This will never result in it returning in continually more warped and incomprehensible forms

Caladea: being in the palace seems to have stunted her emotions - they're flatter, duller, and way more anxious no matter what they are

Thade: don't like that feeling? Deflect it! The more mirrors there are between you and your emotions the less you will ever know what they are and the less you can ever be responsible for them

Orvi: he has a mental Tupperware for emotions that allows him to keep control of himself. He is the only person on this list who will actually open that Tupperware on purpose later

22 - What regrets do they have, if any? (From any part of the story, not just exposition.)

Marcus: missing out on eight years of his "real" life, and especially not being there when Gren's grandmother died. If only he'd been stronger, he could have stayed

Heith: before finding out about Marcus, that she's kind of a flake to her band, but they don't seem to mind that much. After finding out about Marcus, that she ever thought there was some kind of "magic" between them and maybe she could feel naïve about love for two seconds

Yera: she regretted drifting away from her father and sister, so she's fixing that now

Hossan: most of his regrets are from the now-distant past and don't make much sense - even he will say so - but he always finds himself regretting that he can't seem to do more for people

Gren: not going home even more before his grandmother died, even though he was practically splitting his time between his home city and the palace. He also regrets letting Marcus leave, even though he had to, and there was no other real choice

Pali: after getting married, she got more distant from her professor mentor, and the regret hit her hard when they died

Umedes: most immediately, thinking that having a kid was a good idea (they are beginning to think that this is a pregnancy kink that got out of hand). But more than anything they regret not going with Marcus, even though they couldn't

Kiatcarmen: Ashmalo was a liability, but she still regrets that he died (despite her image she does not think that assassination is the right way to deal with most problems, including Ashmalo). Conversely, she regrets that she couldn't save Jimmy, even though medical science itself could not have saved Jimmy. She also regrets letting Minaya slip out from under her thumb, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't be stuck looking for her runaway son

Pirianus: that he can't seem to permanently extract himself from Thade. If he stops and thinks about it (read: gets drunk and sad) he regrets spending so many years of his life trying to get through to a woman who would just as soon throw him to the dogs

Caladea: that she couldn't do more for Marcus or Minaya or Ashmalo, and that she still can't. And that being stuck in the palace has left her struggling to try and pick up the pieces of her creativity and her passion even though it should have given her unlimited resources to pursue them

Thade: things he's said to people. Most of them used to be seared in his brain because he thought they were funny, and eventually he figured out that oh, maybe they weren't. But some of them seemed bad from the moment they came out of his mouth (not before that, unfortunately, because he wasn't thinking about it) and he wishes he could take them back for real, especially the things he's said to Pirianus

Orvi: that he's still here. He had one thing to accomplish, and even though it was complex, it's taking SO. LONG. He knew that marrying into the royal family meant that he probably wasn't going to permanently go home again, but the longer this drags on the less he even wants to show his face there, and he wonders if it was worth it at all

[void-botanist]

Rose’s Kiss Week Day 3: Focus

OCs: Marcus Asalun (aka Anchesh Pabat) and Pali Ores-Pabat

Words: 309

Content warnings: none

Notes: Anchesh and Pali have been married for a few months. She's a shifter, so she looks fully human.

“Hey,” Anchesh said as he cracked the door with his shoulder. “I brought you a smoothie.”

“Did you make me a smoothie?” Pali answered, and he took that as an invitation to come in.

“No, but Klia would have done better at it anyway. They put actual protein in here.” He circled around to put the glass down in the only open space on her desk.

“Protein powder or nut butter?” she said without looking away from her tablet.

“Nut butter. I don’t remember which one though.”

“Mm.”

He hadn’t come into her room expecting to chat, but it was clear she wasn’t about to pause her research at all. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.” He kissed the top of her head and stepped toward the door.

“Wait, no, Anchesh—” She snagged his elbow and pulled him back to kiss him on the lips, her other hand wrapping around the back of his neck. For a brief moment, it felt like he was the focus of all her attention. Then she settled back into her chair, letting him straighten up, her hand slipping from the back of his neck to his collarbone. Her smile was soft. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He brushed his knuckles across her cheek, returning her smile. “But do drink your smoothie.”

She turned, picked up the smoothie with both hands, and looked right at him while she took a big enough gulp from the straw that the level fell in the glass. “You’re right, that is really good.” She took another sip of it. “I’ll drink it, you don’t have to supervise me.”

“I’m not supervising,” he said, and he went to the door as though to prove his point. “Let me know if you want anything else.”

“I will,” she said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he answered, and shut her door behind him.

RKW taglist: @vacantgodling @jezifster @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

Rose's Kiss Week Day 5: Lonely

OCs: Marcus Asalun (aka Anchesh Pabat) and Gren Orech-Pabat

Words: 1335

Content warnings: mentions of family health issues

Notes: this takes place six months after Anchesh married his last spouse, human himbo Gren.

At the other end of the sofa, Gren sighed for the tenth time in as many minutes.  He was staring off at the other end of the room, chin propped up in one big hand, and more than likely didn’t even realize he sounded so despondent.  

“How are you doing?” Anchesh asked.

“I’m fine.  It’s just lonely without Yera.”

Probably it was best not to talk too much about Yera, because Gren would only get sadder if he started thinking about why Yera was out of town and how stressed she must be.  Instead Anchesh put aside his knitting.  

“I’m probably not as good at cuddling as Yera,” he said, moving to the cushion next to Gren, “but I’m here.”

Gren instantly pivoted and deflated into his lap, settling one cheek against his thigh and a hand over his knee.  Today Gren’s hair was held in a bunlike fold with just an alligator clip, which Anchesh gently pulled out and set on the open cushion beside him.  Then he combed his fingers back through Gren’s loose locks.

“I feel bad being lonely,” Gren murmured.  “Her family needs her way more than I do, and I’m not alone here.”

“You’re her family too,” Anchesh answered in the same low tone.  “And it doesn’t feel the same, not having her here.”

“Yeah.”  Gren squeezed his leg a little, like he needed something to cling to.  

Anchesh let Gren’s hair slip through his fingers over and over, massaging Gren’s scalp with each draw.  Truth be told, he was worried about Yera too.  She would be fine, unless her father got worse.  He probably wouldn’t die, not yet, but the wondering and waiting felt unsettling enough for him at home—it must be awful for her.  She was right to have the rest of them stay behind, except Hossan, because sooner or later they’d all be at loose ends and end up making her feel worse.  But he still wished he could be there to hold her and talk to her, probably just the same as Gren.  

“Maybe I don’t spend enough time with the rest of you,” Gren said suddenly.  “Especially you.”

“I don’t mind how much time you spend with Yera and Hossan,” Anchesh answered.

“Yeah, but—” Gren rose from his lap, slowly enough that he didn’t pull his own hair in Anchesh’s hands.  With his hair pushed behind his ears, he said, “I’m your husband too.  And you don’t get tired of me like Pali does.  I would leave you alone if you wanted me to but you’ve never told me to do that.”

Anchesh handed him the alligator clip.  “I mean, I’m happy to spend more time with you.  I just don’t want you to worry too much about it.”

Gren stared at nothing while he smoothed his hair back into a ponytail and clipped it there.  Then he continued looking at some spot further down the sofa.  “Anchesh...do you love me?”

It was a serious question that deserved a serious answer, but Anchesh was distracted by the plaintiveness of Gren’s voice.  Had this been worrying him for the last six months?  

Gren waited two seconds before adding, “Not like you love Yera or Umedes, but...”

He took Gren’s hand from his lap, and Gren looked up.  “I do love you, Gren.  You’re my friend.  And my husband.  And I’m glad I married you.”

“Really?”  He didn’t seem entirely convinced.

“Really.  I would have married you just for Yera and Hossan, but I like having you around too.  You’re so bright, and lovely, and you always make sure we have what we need.  And—”

“I think Pali does that.”

“Pali doesn’t keep everyone upbeat,” Anchesh said.  “And she’s definitely not good at making sure we all rest, especially not herself.  I think she’s gotten more sleep in the six months you’ve been here than she has since I married her.”  Gren didn’t say anything, so he kept going.  “We need someone who’s as thoughtful as you are.  I need someone who is.”  An almost melancholy gratitude welled up in him, and he tried to figure out how to put words to it.  He wasn’t sure that Gren understood how much he made life more bearable.  He wasn’t sure any of his spouses did, even though he didn’t know where he’d be without them.  He loved all of them, and he needed all of them, and on some level he needed Gren, the only one who wasn’t at least a little wrapped up in politics and particularities, most of all.  He put his other hand over Gren’s.  “You mean a lot to me, Gren.”

“Do you think you could say that more?  Not that, but like, ‘I love you’?”

When was the last time he’d told Gren he loved him?  Even if he didn’t remember exactly, he had a feeling it had been days, or weeks.  He’d decided without thinking about it that Gren didn’t really need to hear it, and he definitely didn’t need to hear it from him, arguably Gren’s least favorite spouse aside from Pali.  

“Of course I can,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the back of Gren’s hand.  “I’m sorry I haven’t said it very much.”

“It’s okay.”  Gren put his other hand on top of Anchesh’s.  Then he dropped his cheek against Anchesh’s shoulder.  

“You know you can always tell me about your feelings,” Anchesh said.

“You don’t tell me about yours,” Gren said.  “Except in bed, kinda.”

“Do you want to know about my feelings?”

“Yes!”  Gren lifted his head and his face was all exasperation.  “I know I don’t understand all of the things you do but I can understand how you feel!”

“Most of my feelings aren’t good.”  And it would be cruel to burden someone like Gren with them.

“I still want to know,” Gren said.  “I just want to be there for you, but I never know what’s going on with you.”

He’d given up on being there for Gren because it was obvious Gren didn’t need him, and he couldn’t keep track of the constantly shifting world he lived in with Yera and Hossan.  “While Yera and Hossan are gone, maybe we should focus on that.  Being there for each other.”

“I’d like that.”  Gren’s eyes fell to their hands, and Anchesh thought he could see a blush rising in his cheeks.  “I’d also like to kiss you more.”

“You can kiss me whenever you want.”  He felt like he meant that the most of anything he’d said so far.  Gren raised his head and went straight to softly touching his lips to Anchesh’s, his mustache tickling at Anchesh’s smooth-shaven upper lip.

On the next kiss his hand caressed the curve of Anchesh’s neck, and then he untangled his other hand from Anchesh’s and threw both arms around his neck, and when that apparently wasn’t enough he broke the kiss and fully straddled Anchesh’s thighs, hunching a little to reach his lips.  Anchesh tilted his head further back in turn, feeling the pleasant tension of his horns pressing against the back of the sofa.  Despite his position, Gren didn’t seem like he was trying to be seductive.  He kissed Anchesh to savor him, like he was fresh water on Gren’s parched tongue, a tongue carefully exploring the contours of Anchesh’s.  He was in no rush, and his skin was warm against Anchesh’s where they touched, Gren’s feet pressed against his knees, hands along the edge of his neckline, soft lips drinking him in.  Anchesh let his hands run back over Gren’s thighs, his hips, to the bare, fuzzy skin at his midriff, and held on there.  

When Gren pulled back at long last, his breath was edged with gasps, and so was Anchesh’s.

“I love you, Anchesh.  I love you so much.”

Without a word, they pulled each other close, Anchesh wrapping his arms around Gren’s back as he leaned forward to press his cheek against Gren’s shoulder.

“I love you too, Gren.”

RKW taglist: @vacantgodling @jezifster @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

Rose's Kiss Week Day 4: Comfort

OCs: Marcus Asalun (aka Anchesh Pabat) and Umedes Oret-Pabat

Words: 608

Content warnings: none

Notes: Anchesh and Umedes have been married almost two years at this point. Umedes is a silver ferasca - dragon person - and the only one of Anchesh's spouses he's well and truly in love with. Minaya is Anchesh's younger sister, also expected to marry a member of each species, but not interested in doing so at the breakneck speed Anchesh has been keeping. Anchesh is worried, as always, that the human spouse options he'll be presented tomorrow will be terrible, but he'd accept whichever one his wives like.

Tomorrow would be the introduction, and hoping that Pali and Yera took to one of the options. That he did, but if they liked someone well enough he’d probably just sign off on it. Minaya would tell him not to be like that, but wouldn’t she do the same? Well, maybe she wouldn’t, but she had all the time in the world. He slowed and glanced up from his burning stare at the hallway carpet when he heard someone coming ahead. Probably a servant, in this part of the palace. But it was Umedes who stepped out of the cross-hallway and interrupted their trajectory to meet him where he was.

They were maybe four inches taller than him, but between their broad horns and fat build it always felt like more. Time seemed to pause as they stood over him, adjusting his goofy too-big lapels, smoothing their hands along the front of his waistcoat, letting the braids that framed his face run over their knuckles.

“Nervous?” they murmured. They would know that this was the only thing on his mind, because it had been for days.

He sighed. “Yeah.”

“It will be fine.” Umedes had been through a formal spouse selection, so maybe they were right. They lifted one of his newly-wrapped braids in their fingers, turning it slightly to watch the metallic string change from azure to emerald. “Your hair is gorgeous.”

They probably didn’t mean for those things to be connected, but in typical Umedes fashion they made it sound like everything would be fine because he looked good. Honestly, maybe that was what he should focus on. He did look good, with his cornrows flowing around his horns and into the beaded box braids that cascaded down his upper back, and the four wrapped braids in front of his horns that shifted pleasantly against the fur at the edges of his cheeks. His outfit for tomorrow matched the blue, green, and copper of his braids, luxurious but understated. He couldn’t choose who the suitors would be or what anyone thought of them, but not everything was out of his control.  

“Thank you,” he said.

Umedes ran a blunt claw back along the edge of his jaw until their thumb settled against his chin, then just as softly tilted his head up and kissed him. The moment he felt the smooth warmth of their lips against his, he was instantly anxious that someone was about to find them in this hallway, but that didn’t stop him from slipping a hand onto their neck, his fingers splitting over the square, fractured-looking plates at the corner of their jaw. He could let his fingers dance over them for hours, following the geological fault lines over and over like well-worn mountain trails. Maybe later he would. For now he was letting Umedes pull back, then changing his mind and stealing one more kiss before they both pretended they’d done nothing of interest in this public corridor.

Umedes stroked the edge of his lower lip before relinquishing their touch entirely. “We’ll all be there tomorrow,” they said, barely stepping back from him, their pink eyes shining. “And I’m sure the human coalition will choose as well as the others.”

“Probably yes,” he said.

Umedes gave him a soft little smile that said everything there was to say, and revealed a tiny corner of one fang. “Don’t sit by yourself all day.” They passed him with a gentle squeeze to his shoulder, and he couldn’t help watching them go, if only for a second.

His fiery stare at the carpet was more of a smolder as he continued down the hallway.

RKW taglist: @vacantgodling @jezifster @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

Rose's Kiss Week Day 1: Escape

OCs: Marcus Asalun (aka Anchesh Pabat) and Yera Miants

Words: 887

Content warnings: none

Notes: this takes place shortly before best friends Anchesh and Yera begin their courtship, so Anchesh is still single and they're both in their early twenties. Also they're both bovans (think catgirl but part cow instead).

At four minutes past eleven the penultimate dance ended, and Anchesh kissed the back of his partner’s gloved hand and made equally perfunctory excuses to the crowd that formed around him—he just needed to retire to his rooms briefly, a phrase that people always assumed meant he had to piss. They held back as he entered the hallway, and until he was finally behind the closed door of his quarters, he kept himself stately. In private, though, he went straight to the window and swung himself out onto the pebbled garden bed underneath it. Holding his robes close, he followed the familiar unmarked path through the trees, down into the garden where the paths were lined with tiny lamps along the ground. Yera was waiting for him in the usual spot, the airy layers of her dress ethereal in the mix of moonlight and path light. He touched her bare shoulder and she turned, copying his smile as she suddenly grabbed his hand and ran with him, giggling, down to the bench behind the arbor. They sat down in a rush, his heart beating harder from that run than a whole night of dancing. He grinned at her, and she grinned back, and he tried to gather his wits around catching his breath, but instead of saying a word she just leaned in and kissed him. His lower lip folded slightly between hers, and then she was back in her seat, even as her touch seemed to linger on his lips.

Her smile had taken on an air of chagrin, the silvery sheen on her cheeks almost a blush. “Sorry, I just—”

“Are an incredible kisser?” he said.

She made a noise that was half surprise, half laugh. “Yeah, but I got carried away. I know we’re not having a real courtship.”

“Why not?” Yera gave him the head tilt, her ears not quite relaxed. “No, I’m serious. I want you to be my right hand schemer.” When she just sort of laughed it off as their inside joke, he added, “And if you know we’re friends, and I know we’re friends, I don’t see why you can’t kiss me if you want.”

“You made up your mind over one kiss?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. I didn’t think you wanted to kiss me.”

“Well, you’re not my guy. But I’m still going to be your wife.” She put her upper arm along the top of the bench and leaned her cheek against her gloved knuckles. “And I love you, Anchesh. I do.”

“I know you do,” he said. “I love you too.”

He lifted her hand from her lap, kissing the back of it and setting it lightly on his shoulder. As his hand followed her sash back along her waist, she leaned in too and caught him in another kiss. His other hand caressed the curve of her neck, her skin warm against his gloved fingers. No one would catch them this far down in the garden, but if anyone did, it would just look like they had started their courtship early, like the lovebirds everyone thought they were.

“You’re not such a bad kisser yourself,” Yera said as she gently pulled back, her ears now low and soft. “You might want to head back, though, before everyone wonders what happened to you.”

“I know. I’m gonna get a reputation for being the slowest pisser on Iecunem.”

She laughed. “They know you’re up to something. They just don’t know what.”

He gently extracted himself from her arms and stood up, offering her a hand.

“No, I think I’ll stay here for a while longer. Daydream wistfully about that time I kissed the prince.”

With a smile still on his face, he started up the hill behind the bench.

“Anchesh,” Yera called back in a low voice. He turned. “You need help getting back in the window?”

He shook his head. “I have a plan this time.”

“You had a plan last time,” she said, but she didn’t leave the bench. He didn’t stay to argue the point, but the plan he’d had last time was a spur of the moment calculation that left him weaving his way through the service corridors at top speed instead. This time he had an actual real plan, set up ahead of time. To be able to push himself up onto the windowsill and get back in, all he needed was about four inches’ boost. He’d procured and hidden a slice of log that would do the trick, and not look too out of place if anyone happened to see it before he came out to hide it again. He dropped it on the bed of smooth white pebbles under the windowsill and immediately sunk further into them when he stepped on the wood. Still, he was higher—he jumped with his hands on the windowsill and managed to push himself up to half climb, half tumble back into his room. With a quick spin in the mirror to make sure he didn’t look like he was coming in from the gardens, he swept out into the corridor to return to the ballroom.

It was only once he found himself looking out at the ballroom crowd that he realized he should have actually taken his opportunity to piss.

RKW taglist: @vacantgodling @jezifster @kk7-rbs

[void-botanist]

Marcus's spouses

I'm still working out a lot of worldbuilding here but I have enough to share @kk7-rbs and also @vacantgodling since you've been talking about Celestial Weddings harems lol

A little background

Historically, tensions in Iecunem (not the whole planet probably but I don't have a name for the kingdom) have most often risen along species lines. Putting a larger variety of species in the monarch's cabinet didn't have as much of an effect as people had hoped, so a new plan was hatched: require the monarch to marry at least one member of each species. This actually begins with the heir, who generally marries long before they ever ascend the throne. By the time Marcus begins marrying, this has been the status quo for hundreds of years, and the system is fairly refined: the species coalitions nominate potential matches who can both advocate for species interests and will at least be good friends with the heir. The heir can reject them, because having a marriage among despiseds kind of defeats the point, but the heir can only get away with that so many times.

Marcus is required by law to have four spouses. He has five, currently. In order of marriage:

Yera

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1706331

Yera was an easy first choice. She was already a friend of his through being a noblewoman, and she was easy to put on a courtship with. She was supposed to be his paired mate - the one who would produce a bovan heir for the throne - but they had an alternate plan behind the scenes. Yera already had a thing going with her courier, so Marcus would just marry him too and they could have kids if they wanted, because Marcus never wanted to carry on his mother's bloodline, and he and Yera had never been into each other.

Yera's life philosophy is to enjoy the hell out of it, as long as she's not preventing anyone else from doing so. In public she's known for her sparkling wit and constantly changing hairstyle. In private she's known for making sure everyone can be included in the good shit (watching sunsets, drinking hot chocolate, lounging in the pool, &c.) if they want to (if not, their loss) and also being draped over Hossan or her buddy Gren. She's not as close with Pali or Umedes, but she still very much considers them family. Lately a good chunk of her time has been spent with her and Hossan's baby.

Umedes

Picrew: uh the BG3 character creator lol

It's bad form to marry two people of your same species back to back, so after marrying Yera Marcus followed up on the request from the ferasca coalition, who had unanimously decided to present him with a single candidate: a silver ferasca named Umedes. He went into their courtship period with an open mind, but neither he nor Yera was sure about having such a grave spouse. Yera decided pretty quickly that they were fine and she didn't really care. As Marcus got past their mutual nerves, he uncovered Umedes' soft side and sense of humor, which, uh, did things to him and they spent the latter half of their courtship banging it out.

Umedes seems like a downer on the outside, and that's how they tend to be perceived by the public. They're fine with that - no one wants to bother the serious, boring spouse. While they're still quiet in private, they're much warmer, and Gren also says they're very warm to cuddle with. Especially since Marcus left, they're closest to Pali, and are rarely seen without her in matters of official business - or, for that matter, of unofficial pleasure. The two of them and Marcus's sister Minaya, who he intends to abdicate to, have been talking about getting Marcus to marry another ferasca to get Umedes pregnant and provide another potential heir.

Hossan

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1706331

Despite the fact that everyone knew Marcus was marrying Hossan for Yera's benefit, tradition dictated that their wedding was centered around the two of them. They'd gotten to know each other decently well over their courtship, and while Hossan was much more interesting than his quiet "just some guy" demeanor would suggest, Marcus also couldn't help being distracted by just how handsome he is. Yera of course already adored him, and Umedes was just hoping to find him a pleasant acquaintance but got very wrapped up in hearing his daring stories of couriership, none of which were made up, but some of which sounded extremely fantastical.

Hossan was surprised when Yera first pitched her and Marcus's plan to him, before Marcus and Yera had even started their courtship. He thought that he and Yera were just having a fling - he would certainly be interested in a longer-term arrangement, but he didn't think she was. It took him a while to summon the courage to say yes, because he wasn't sure he'd be cut out for palace life, or for being part of a mild plot. The slowly deepening twists of the plot still make him nervous, but he's settled in as the "just some guy" of the spouses. His time ends up divided relatively evenly between them, and he knows them all more deeply than any one of the others, save Marcus, who never truly opened up to him. He doesn't suspect that Pali has any more than a little crush on him, though, and that in itself is pretty flattering. He's almost as obsessed with Yera as she is with him, but he's absolutely over the moon about being a dad.

Pali

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1342558 (she should have darker skin but I couldn't say no to that perfect hair and expression)

The shifter coalition presented Marcus with four potential matches, and as he essentially speed-dated them on the first day, Pali was one of two that he felt comfortable with. The thing that ultimately set her the most apart was that when he warned her about the constantly worsening situation with his mother, she metaphorically cracked her knuckles and said, "I've managed worse," and he believed her. His crush on her has always been a little bit informed by how she's the only person he's ever met who genuinely doesn't seem to give a shit about his mom's whole deal. Yera extra liked her upon realizing that she would be a willing shield against the queen, Hossan liked her easy laugh, and Umedes was concerned that she'd drag them into conflicts with the queen until she actually laid out her thinking.

Pali is serious and straightforward like Umedes and is always thinking two steps ahead, but is also lighthearted and mostly unguarded around the spouses. She is their de-facto leader and typically the one making announcements about them in Marcus's absence. She trusts Umedes and Marcus most closely, but she is also hopelessly in love with Hossan, something she never intends to tell him (while Yera is not actively jealous of him, Pali can't imagine her ever accepting someone else having an ongoing romantic interest in him, even if Hossan himself did). As for Gren, she loves him as a friend, but has the least patience for him out of any of them.

Gren

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1473879 (edited a bit to make his shoulders wider)

Of the human coalition's three suitors, one was excruciatingly stiff, one seemed to only care about their own agenda, and one was Grenadine "please, call me Gren", the definition of himbo. The political play was that no reasonable person would refuse anything to such a kind, hardworking man, whether that be royal luxury or aid for human-specific issues. And that play was spot on, because nothing about Gren is anything but genuine sweetness. Marcus mostly noted that he was nice to be around and a good listener, Pali liked him well enough, and Umedes and Hossan thought he was cute and fun to play games with, but Yera wanted to reject him on the basis that he would usurp her position as the generous, fun-loving spouse. She locked herself in a room with him for five hours and when she emerged, she approved of him. To this day no one else knows what happened in that room, and they've stopped asking.

Gren is the muscle and the support of the spouses. He's thick as thieves with Yera, but also spends plenty of time with Hossan and Umedes, and is usually found cuddled up with someone while they talk to him. Pali scares him a little, and he tries very hard to know when to stay out of her way. When Marcus was still around Gren eventually took too much advantage of Marcus's soft spot for him and had to be gently asked to "please stop following me around like a puppy". He decided unilaterally after he arrived at the palace that he would be the slut spouse. He's not seductive or provocative normally, but if one of the spouses says "jump", he says "like, here? or in my dungeon?". He remains the only spouse who has had sex with all the others.

[void-botanist]

Thade Adventures: Parkour

OCs: Thade Orech-Pabat, Caladea Ores-Pabat, and Pirianus Orech-Pabat

Words: 500

Content warnings: heights, getting kinda made fun of in front of your crush

Taglist: @vacantgodling

“Do you think it’s possible to parkour all the way down to the ground floor from here?” Thade said, leaning against the railing at the edge of the open space that cut all the way down to said ground floor.

“Maybe,” Caladea said, barely looking up from her phone.

He grinned.  “You think I should try?”

She looked up for real.  “No, you can’t parkour.”

“I can totally parkour,” he said, pushing himself up on his arms so that his hips rested against the top of the railing.  He brought one sandaled foot up between his hands—he wasn’t going to go further than crouching on the rail, because he couldn’t parkour, but his foot slipped out from under him and his arms betrayed him and he found himself bent double over the railing, clinging to the slats, his feet barely skimming the carpet.  The fourth floor suddenly looked very high up.  

“Okay, I take it back,” he said.  “Can you help me?”  If he’d been with anyone but Caladea, they probably would have left him there to think about his actions for a while, but she came over right away to haul him back up by his pants waistband.  Which would have worked if he hadn’t chosen this moment to be wearing sweatpants.  Instead of helping, she just pulled down his pants, and he suspected also his boxer briefs.

“Oh no, I’m sorry,” she said like it was an accident, but she was also giggling.  

“Callie, you better not be filming this.”

“I’m not.”  Giggle giggle.  She must be, because she certainly wasn’t helping him.  He kicked his legs a little bit and felt a cold rush of fear as he shifted forward on the rail.  Well, this was fine.  He could just work his way back up the slats with his hands, and he would eventually slide back onto the floor.  It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be faster.  He’d hardly started when he felt familiar rough-edged hands on his hips and he was ungraciously pulled back upright.  As his blood stopped pooling in his head, he beheld Pirianus standing there, frowning as always.  That is, until Caladea showed him something on her phone, and he cracked a tiny blue-edged smile.

“Thanks,” Thade said with zero gratitude, pulling up his stupid sweatpants.  Before he could escape these two chucklefucks, though, Caladea turned her phone on him, and he was met with a photo of himself stranded over the rail, his panicked face looking through the slats, and his hairy asscrack surrounded by ironic hearts and sparkles.  Across the top was the word PARKOUR flanked with party poppers and flames.

“Great, thank you,” he said with a fake smile.  It should have been funny.  He should have been laughing—he could take a joke at his expense any day of the week—but instead he felt his cheeks burning.  “I’ll get that put on my calling cards.”  

He didn’t look at her or Pirianus as he walked away.